Current textual searching methods utilize keywords. A drawback of these methods is that using the wrong keywords when searching leads to missing out on relevant information. A document that is relevant to the search will not be retrieved if the searched keyword is not used in the document. For instance, the use of the keyword “xenotransplant” during a search, may lead to missing out on references in which the word “xenographic procedure” is used. Additionally, truncation may lead to the search term “xeno” and result in many irrelevant hits.
As a result, the known methods are too slow and inaccurate to provide relevant search results. What is needed is a searching method that retrieves the most relevant documents without relying on keywords.